Wednesday, 27 November 2013

Weeks of talks ended this morning: Germany to have a social democratic government led by Angela Merkel

Last Sunday's German election was a victory for Angela Merkel's (formally) conservative CDU/CSU. However, Dorothea Siems, writing in the conservative German Daily Die Welt discloses the real result of the election: The "social democratization" of the German Bundestag. The fact that the conservative business friendly wing has virtually disappeared from the CDU means, according to Die Welt, that there will be three social democratic parties and a socialist party in the German parliament. Die Welt is of course on the spot. Angela Merkel is, and has never been, a real conservative. She and finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble will be more than happy to include the second largest social democratic party, the SDP, in the next cabinet, although it will all be preceded by a performance of political theatre in order to give the impression of difficult negotiations. (Of course there is a certain element of competition between the leaders of the two "social democratic" parties)PSThere are still a number of real conservatives in the Bavarian sister party CSU, but their influence on the policies pursued by Merkel's "social democrats" will be minimal.

Weeks of talks ended early Wednesday morning with a contract between Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats to form Germany's next government. The deal still faces a difficult vote by all SPD members in December.

After five weeks of talks and 17-hour, all night negotiations, the parties seeking to form the next German government reached an agreement early Wednesday, with Angela Merkel poised to begin a third term as chancellor. Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and center-left Social Democrats (SPD) agreed on the language of a contract stipulating the policies they would pursue over the next four years. The heads of all three parties signed the 185-page agreement Wednesday morning.

PS

Isn't funny that German media still describe Angela Merkel'sCDU as "conservative", in spite of the fact the party has not been conservative for decades ...